Occupier must let oil spoils help Iraqis, says legal expert

By Fergus ShielMarch 17 2003

The United States would be legally obliged to spend Iraq's oil and gas profits on the welfare of the Iraqi people should the country be occupied without United Nations sanction, a Melbourne legal expert has said.

Gillian Triggs said the Hague Convention of 1907 says a belligerent occupier is legally obliged as far as possible to restore and ensure public order or safety.

"The occupying power can use the oil and gas resources but must do so for the benefit of the people and essentially to meet the cost of the occupying force," Professor Triggs said.

"So, the occupier must deal with health issues, ensure that the environment is not degraded, provide housing and get business, the courts and the civil administration working again."

Until hostilities end, the convention states occupation must be considered temporary and structural changes made accordingly. ");document.write("

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Professor Triggs, director of Melbourne University's Institute for Comparative and International Law, expected the US to terminate Russia, France and China's Iraqi oil and gas concession contracts if it occupies Iraq.

She believed the US would argue, as the Allies did after defeating Hitler, that because Iraq's President, Saddam Hussein, is a dictator, what counts for legality in his regime has no standing.